Illinois Valley Central had three grapplers advance in Nick Norris (106), Riley Beard (126) and Jordan Ladd (195). Beard was impressive in winning the only other area sectional title with three pins, two of those in less than a minute.

“I felt great coming in,” said Beard. “It was just a matter of making weight, maintaining, eating healthy and stay feeling good.

Carr, the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the state at 182 this season and runner-up in that weight class a year ago, ran his record to 43-1 with two wins by pin, including a fall in 1:16 in the final against Geneseo’s Ryan Pitra.

“Getting to the state finals is a great feeling, but not so much losing in the finals,” Carr said. “That makes you so much more hungry for next year.

“When you’re almost a state champ, you train so much more harder. I worked my butt off for this, and I’m looking for it to come together in the next four matches. No days off.”

Washington will also be represented by a pair of impressive freshmen in Warner and Punke.

“My goal this entire season is to win state,” Warner said. “I come to practice every day excited and ready to wrestle.

“Ready to have great practices with great partners like Colin Carr and Randy Meneweather.”

Punke, who won 3-0 at 106 over Norris, is not backing down either in his first year of high school competition.

“I knew I had a bunch of hard work ahead of me that I had to get done,” Punke said. “Of course I’ve dreamed about this, for quite awhile”

Unfortunately there was some local disappointment.

East Peoria’s Casey McWhirter, a state qualifier a year ago, did not advance at 132, a weight division that featured the top-six ranked wrestlers in the state. Washington’s Ryder Punke also lost in the same weight class. Both were one win shy of advancing.

At 138, Morton’s Gabe Pleasants lost a lead in the third period, then lost a match in the sudden-victory overtime period.

“Even our guys that got knocked out ... they wrestled with heart,” said Washington coach Bryan Medlin. “We kind of got this thing, if this is going to be your last Saturday then you empty all your barrels and I think they did that.”

Bo Ryan can be reached at 686-3214 or rryan@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRealBoRyan